


Stories of the Second Self: Less Than Bedazzling

by John_Steiner



Series: Alter Idem [167]
Category: Urban Fantasy - Fandom
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:08:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22758298
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/John_Steiner/pseuds/John_Steiner
Summary: Charles' friend a Luc Fae mechanic named Howie experiments with a Personification spell that, he hopes, won't require constant affection to sustain itself. Yet, Howie is a guy who will experiment first and think things through after.
Series: Alter Idem [167]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1618813





	Stories of the Second Self: Less Than Bedazzling

"Alright," Howie said, flicking his wrists with a cable in each hand.

The autumn-gold toned Luc Fae of three-point antlers stood before a rippling sheet of silk that waved and flapped while appearing to stand on two corners. Next to him stood Charles, an angel who watched Howie weave the Personification spell onto the previously inanimate silken sheet. Howie's idea was to make the spell more self-sustaining without the need of giving affection.

"I don't think this is a good idea," Charles said, seeing Howie advance a hoof step.

"Nonsense," Howie retorted, "I just connect these two wires together and...."

The wires ran to an old extension cord, which Charles felt was sketchy in and of itself. That Howie jury-rigged a transformer into it made Charles nervous enough to take several steps back and raise one of his transparent wings up to shield himself.

The right call, as it turns out, for when the wires connected the silk burst into flames along a lightning bolt of a line between the contacts.

"Fuck," Howie shouted and then pointed. "Get the extinguisher!"

Charles ran over to the wall and grabbed at the band holding the extinguisher to the wall. He fumbled at the release latch before freeing the extinguisher and racing back, now with both wings up against further disaster.

Howie ripped it from Charles' hands and went to business on the flaming sheet that, at the moment of contact, had stopped writhing. Charles took some relief at that, imagining how horrible it would be for a seemingly living sheet of silk to catch fire and burn in agony. Not that anyone knew if Personified objects could feel, though Charles couldn't help but picture it.

Frosty blasts took down the flames surprisingly fast, and Howie waved off the smoke to inspect what remained. "Yeah, that shit's done. Shoulda known better."

"What? Why?" Charles asked.

"We've had magic in the world since... what," Howie paused to think, "Four years, maybe five or six depending on who you ask. Not long before Alter Idem, anyway. Yet, you don’t often see it mixed with technology. I used Personification on a big jeep once, but-- ehh! I dunno."

"You think there's a reason?" Charles asked, looking through his wing at the ruin of his silk sheets.

"Here's what occurs to me," Howie pointed ahead of himself, looking nowhere in particular. "The moment I applied the juice the spell just fizzed out. Like, you know, electricity just killed the whole thing in a blink. I think that, if a thing isn't already electric or motorized, and you try to add that in, it dispels whatever magic is there. I'll have to test that more before I'm sure."

"Girlfriend's gonna kill me," Charles mourned at the smoldering ruin. "She really loved those sheets."

"You know where you bought them?" Howie asked, his back-pointed ears shifting ever so slightly with his scalp.

"Yeah, I just hope they're still in business," Charles rued shaking his head.

Howie reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out a money clip. He thumbed out sixty dollars and passed it over without hesitation. "It's on me. Next time I'll experiment on my own shit. Sorry 'bout that."


End file.
